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Son Ah-seop, 38, who was traded to the Doosan Bears, will wear a number other than his longtime No. 31 for the first time since his debut. Limited options at his new club played a role, but he also chose a new number to honor a close former Hanwha teammate, Noh Si-hwan. <\/p>\n
Son was traded from Hanwha to Doosan on the morning of April 14. Doosan sent left-hander Lee Gyo-hoon and 150 million KRW (112,500 USD) to Hanwha in the deal. <\/p>\n
Son had been at Hanwha\u2019s second-team facility in Seosan, Chungnam, and went straight to Incheon after hearing the news. Once added to the first-team roster, Doosan slotted him in as the No. 2 designated hitter for the game against the SSG Landers. <\/p>\n
Meeting reporters, Son said he learned about the trade on his way to the sauna\u2014part of his daily routine. \u201cThis is my fourth team, and I get excited every time I move,\u201d he said. \u201cI kept thinking about how to show that Doosan made the right choice.\u201d <\/p>\n
At Doosan, Son will wear No. 8. He had worn No. 31 throughout his stints with the Lotte Giants, NC Dinos and Hanwha, so this marks the first time he\u2019s changed numbers. With regular outfielder Jung Soo-bin already wearing 31 at Doosan, Son had to pick something else and went with 8. <\/p>\n
\u201cOptions were limited, and since I\u2019d always worn 31, I wanted something totally different,\u201d he laughed. \u201cThey offered me 36, but I said no \u2014 I didn\u2019t even want to go near the 3.\u201d <\/p>\n
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He said the choice was partly about a fresh mindset, but it also carries personal meaning: No. 8 was worn by his close Hanwha teammate Noh Si-hwan. <\/p>\n
\u201cAmong my teammates at Hanwha, he\u2019s the one I\u2019m most grateful to,\u201d Son said. \u201cWhen Noh called and said, \u2018I wear it with you in mind,\u2019 I was really happy. Noh told me No. 8 stands for the spirit of a roly-poly that doesn\u2019t stay down, so I thought it was a great meaning.\u201d <\/p>\n
He added with a grin that he told Noh, \u201cYou\u2019ve fallen a lot too, so let\u2019s get up together,\u201d which had reporters laughing. <\/p>\n
Noh had struggled since the season opener and was sent down to the second team on April 13. Son, who had been with the second team earlier in the season, even helped Noh lay out parts of his training schedule. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had a dinner planned with Noh tonight. We\u2019d already worked out his training plan, so I feel sorry and disappointed I couldn\u2019t help him,\u201d Son said. <\/p>\n
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He said he doesn\u2019t doubt Noh\u2019s talent. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing to fix technically. He\u2019s normally a positive guy, but lately he\u2019s been down. Everyone hits rough patches in baseball, and Noh is a top third baseman \u2014 I\u2019m not worried.\u201d <\/p>\n
Son acknowledged he faces higher expectations at his new club but vowed to answer them on the field. Doosan is known as \u201cHustle Doo,\u201d and Son said hustle is his strongest asset. \u201cUltimately I have to play well, and off the field I need to be a leader for the younger players,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Back in a real game after a long layoff, Son admitted he\u2019s curious to see how the pitchers look. \u201cThis will be my first true game since the exhibition season,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there are no excuses. I have to beat the pitchers any way I can, and I\u2019ll approach the game with the mindset of getting on base, even if it means taking a hit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Son Ah-seop, now with Doosan Bears, embraces a new mindset as he dons a different jersey number for the first time in his career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/cdn-union.tenbizt.com\/contents\/crawler-dev\/thumbnail\/2026\/04\/CP-2022-0006\/thumb-69498920-ba4d-4a8d-8c1c-f47bfb094206.jpg","footnotes":""},"categories":[278095],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n